S. Barre bridge may be dedicated to WW II sailor

Monday

May 26, 2014 at 6:00 AMMay 26, 2014 at 10:37 PM

By James F. Russell CORRESPONDENT

BARRE — Heroism during war takes many forms.

Bobbing hundreds of miles offshore in the choppy south Atlantic ocean, wearing only a shirt and life preserver for two nights and three days, then spending nearly three months on a 9-by-8-foot survival raft — that is the story of U.S. Navy Seaman Second Class Basil D. Izzi of Barre. And he lived to tell about it.

Now Dennis Fleming, a military veteran from Barre, is advocating that a bridge in town be named after Seaman Izzi. Selectmen have endorsed the idea. State Sen. Stephen M. Brewer, D-Barre, and state Rep. Anne M. Gobi, D-Spencer, have filed a bill on Mr. Fleming's behalf.

In an interview Saturday, Mr. Brewer said there is no doubt the bridge, situated on Route 32 in the South Barre section of town, would be named in memoriam.

"We will get the bill done," he said. "It is a noble cause. And we ought to do that, obviously."

Seaman Izzi's ordeal at sea made him one of the heroes of World War II. After his rescue he was sent around the country to war plants to tell of his inspiring story.

He and two other men, Dutch enlistees, showed great bravery and resilience in surviving amid dreadful circumstances after a Nazi U-boat destroyed the cargo vessel they were guarding on Nov. 2, 1942, during World War II. He was 19 at the time.

"Dutch merchant ship SS Zaandam, bound for New York (from South Africa), carrying 8,600 tons of chrome and copper ore as well as 600 tons of general cargo, had a crew of 112, 18 armed guards and 169 passengers including survivors from four previously sunk ships. The only survivors were a group of three including Basil Izzi," according to the Navy website http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq87-3j.htm

The document is part of an oral history titled: "Recollections of Seaman Second Class Basil D. Izzi, USNR, an armed guard crew member on the Dutch merchant ship SS Zaandam which was torpedoed by German submarine U-174 off the coast of Brazil."

After he jumped from the sinking Zaandam, Seaman Izzi, wearing a life jacket, stayed afloat clinging to part of the ship's wreckage until he saw the life raft from afar and swam to it. The four men aboard took him in.

For the five Zandaam survivors on the raft, there began months of hunger and thirst. They caught a shark, they hunted small birds and small fish that came too close, and they kept searching for ships. They tried to get the attention of planes to no avail.

Two of the men eventually died and were buried at sea. Finally on Jan. 24, 1943, the survivors got the attention of a U.S. Navy Patrol Craft boat and were rescued. The three survivors had endured 84 days in and on the water. Seaman Izzi, normally at 145 pounds, was down to 85.

He was welcomed home to Worcester and then Barre to great ceremony. A photo shows him wolfing down spaghetti as his overjoyed mother watches.

At the time, the New Yorker magazine wrote three installments about Seaman Izzi.

Correspondent Mark Murphy interviewed the soldier after he recovered, and accompanied him on his travels, then put it all in a 124-page book published by E.P. Dutton & Co. in September 1943.

"Seaman Izzi — a small, husky boy of 20 — recovered completely, and spent some time telling people in factories all over the United States the story of his horrible adventure. I was with him much of the time on these trips, and he talked to me on several occasions in my home. He seems in no way affected, mentally or physically, by the ordeal," Mr. Murphy wrote.

His book is titled, "83 Days: The Survival of Seaman Izzi." A complete online copy of the Murphy book can be viewed at http://www.armed-guard.com/iz83.html. The site organizers say: "This website pays tribute to the men of the Armed Guard and the merchant marine of World War II who bravely sailed together into harm's way, and in particular honors those who never returned."

After the war. Mr. Izzi returned to Barre, eventually serving as selectman and director of public works. He died at age 56, in 1979.

One of Mr. Izzi's relatives, Joseph Martone, 55, was 21 years old when the World War II veteran passed away.

"I was just amazed that someone you think is just a regular guy, what he went through," Mr. Martone said Sunday.